What is an Activist Judge?

There has been a lot of talk in the last several months about “activist judges.” Most of these discussions have been centered around a few high profile cases and with President Bush’s judicial nominations. This article gives us a good example of what is meant by the term “activist judge.” This guy has no business what so ever to criticize the government’s policy concerning detainees at Guantanimo Bay. It has no relevance the case that he was presiding over. In addition, the detainees in GITMO were captured ON THE BATTLEFIELD by US military personnel, not by US Customs agents through the course of there normal law enforcement functions. This puts them in a totally different class of prisoner.

A judge's job does not entail making, shaping or criticizing governement policy. Their job is to determine the legality of an individual's actions. The courts have already upheld the use of military courts for GITMO detainees so this guy needs to stick to the issues at hand in his courtroom. This is what makes people so mad about judges – just shut-up and do your job.